[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 89 (Thursday, May 7, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27274-27275]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-09746]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Community Development Financial Institutions Fund


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection: 
Comment Request

ACTION: Notice and request for public comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of the Treasury, as part of its continuing 
effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general 
public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment 
on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by 
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. Currently, the Community 
Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund), U.S. Department of 
the Treasury, is soliciting comments concerning the Annual 
Certification and Data Collection Report Form (ACR) and the 
Certification Transaction Level Report (CTLR) at https://www.cdfifund.gov/programs-training/certification/cdfi/Pages/CertificationPRA.aspx.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before August 5, 2020 to 
be assured of consideration.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments via email to Greg Bischak, Financial 
Strategies and Research (FS&R) Program Manager, CDFI Fund, at: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Greg Bischak, Financial Strategies and 
Research (FS&R) Program Manager, CDFI Fund, U.S. Department of the 
Treasury, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20220 or by phone 
at (202) 653-0300. Other information regarding the CDFI Fund and its 
programs may be obtained through the CDFI Fund's website at http://www.cdfifund.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: Annual Certification and Data Collection Report Form and the 
Certification Transaction Level Report.
    OMB Number: 1559-0046.
    Abstract: This information collection captures information related 
to continuing compliance with certification standards for Community 
Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and other data associated 
with the finances and activities of CDFIs. The Annual Certification and 
Data Collection Report (ACR) requires a certified Community Development 
Financial Institution (CDFI) to annually assess and report on any 
changes to data for criteria supporting its CDFI certification, as well 
as some additional organizational, financial and other data. The CDFI 
Fund uses this report to monitor the CDFI's compliance with 
certification criteria and collect data to gain greater insight on the 
CDFI industry. This document identifies proposed changes to the current 
ACR data collection covered by OMB Number: 1559-0046 (see the current 
data collection in the appendix to this document). The ACR data 
structure discussed below details proposed deletions, changes, and 
additions of data points for the ACR and inclusion of the new 
Certification Transaction Level Report (CTLR) which provides a 
standardized data collection capability to validate transactions within 
target markets.
    As an administrative efficiency the CTLR data collection is being 
submitted for public comment under the ACR OMB control number 1559-
0046. Please note that the CTLR is intended to support both the revised 
Certification Application (see related OMB 1559-

[[Page 27275]]

0028) and the ACR. The CTLR is a proposed requirement for CDFI 
Certification applicants and certified CDFIs that are not current 
Financial Assistance recipients and therefore do not submit an annual 
Transaction Level Report (TLR) to the CDFI Fund. The CTLR will improve 
data quality in both the revised Certification Application and ACR by 
replacing unverifiable summary data on lending and investment in Target 
Markets with the CTLR transaction data, and used to automatically 
compute answers to questions about the composition and distribution of 
lending and investment activities. The CTLR will also collect industry-
wide transactional data for the first time. Thus the implementation of 
the CTLR will create a more data-driven, quantitative evaluation of 
certified CDFIs and CDFI Certification Applicants, and automate key 
validation processes.
    The other changes in the ACR include additional questions based on 
the new policy-related questions in the revised Certification 
Application. These questions confirm that currently certified CDFIs are 
meeting new certification requirements. Another change in the ACR 
involves the use of web-services to collect financial data for 
regulated CDFIs from regulators' call reports which will reduce 
reporting burden, improve data quality and comply with OMB guidance.

ACR and CTLR Burden Estimates

    In order to provide a side-by-side comparison of reporting burden 
changes between the current and proposed changes in the ACR, this 
analysis will first examine the changes related to just the ACR form, 
and then separately present burden estimates for the CTLR.

ACR Burden Estimates

    Proposed Reductions: The revised ACR form proposes to delete 28 
questions from the current form. In addition, changes through the use 
of technology and web services to reduce reporting burden for 34 
existing questions.
    Proposed Additions: There are 26 new questions related to changes 
in the CDFI Fund's certification policy which require the confirmation 
that an entity complies with these standards. In addition there are 
three new data tables added to the ACR: The Capital Investment Table; 
the Contributed Operating Revenue Table, and Loans and Leases Table. 
These changes will result in a net increase of 6,527 hours over prior 
ACR burden estimates (8,663 hours) for the estimated number of total 
respondents.
    Type of Review: Regular Review.
    Affected Public: Certified CDFIs.
    Estimated Number of ACR Respondents: 1,085.
    Estimated Annual Time per ACR Respondent: 14 hours.
    Estimated Total ACR Annual Burden Hours: 15,190 hours.

CTLR Burden Estimates

    As noted above, the implementation of the CTLR will create a more 
data-driven, quantitative evaluation of certified CDFIs and CDFI 
Certification applicants, and automate key validation processes. In 
particular, the CTLR will standardize reporting and automate analysis 
for the current Target Market estimates required for the ACR questions. 
The CTLR will also standardize and automate analysis for the 
Certification Application regarding an entity's loans and investments 
(i.e. the number and amount of loans and/or investments) within that 
entity's proposed Target Market(s). In addition to these technological 
enhancements, the CTLR will eliminate the need for detailed 
transactional analysis of the entity's total portfolio. The CTLR will 
only analyze new originations and thereby reduce substantially the 
current burden for transactional analysis (a concern raised in public 
comments in response to the 2017 ACR request for public comment). Thus 
while the CTLR is a new data collection, the technological enhancements 
of the process provide standardized methods and new automated coding of 
geographically determined Targets Markets such as qualified Investment 
Areas and Low-Income Targeted Populations at the Census Block Level. 
These improvement undoubtedly provide time savings in manual coding 
processes necessary for currently certified CDFIs to report in the ACR 
on the share of transactions going to their approved Target Market. 
Moreover the policy changes for certification will allow all Applicants 
and certified CDFIs to count transactions devoted to all eligible 
Investment Areas outside of their previously geographically defined 
Target Markets. Furthermore the new policies and procedures allow for 
transactional coding of Financial Services to count in evaluating 
Target Market activities. For these reasons the burden is estimated to 
be 6,800 hours (see below).
    Type of Review: Regular Review.
    Affected Public: Non-Financial Assistance Certified CDFIs (700) and 
new Certification Applicants (150).
    Estimated Number of CTLR Respondents: 850.
    Estimated Annual Time per ACR Respondent: 8 hours.
    Estimated Total CTLR Annual Burden Hours: 6,800 hours.
    Request for Comments: Comments submitted in response to this notice 
will be summarized and/or included in the request for OMB approval. All 
comments will become a matter of public record and may be published on 
the CDFI Fund website at http://www.cdfifund.gov. Comments are invited 
on: (a) Whether the collection of information is necessary for the 
proper performance of the functions of the CDFI Fund, including whether 
the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the 
CDFI Fund's estimate of the burden of the collection of information; 
(c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected, including which data might be useful to 
publish to provide the public a concise organizational profile of each 
certified CDFI's financial products and services, asset size, target 
markets served; (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of 
information on respondents, including through the use of technology; 
(e) proposals for the optimal reporting period for the ACR which 
currently is 90 days after the Fiscal Year End of the reporting entity; 
and (f) estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of operation, 
maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information.

    Authority:  Pub. L. 104-13; 12 CFR 1805; 12 CFR 1806; 12 CFR 
1807; 12 CFR 1808.

Jodie L. Harris,
Director, Community Development Financial Institutions Fund.
[FR Doc. 2020-09746 Filed 5-6-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4810-70-P